One of the leading anti-Olympics activists is Julian Cheyne, whose apartment building was flattened to make room for the Olympic Park. “The reality is this is a pack of lies, and, actually, the government knows this because back in 2002 it had its own report called
Game Plan which warned that it would not produce the benefits which were claimed for it," he said. "A few months later, the government decided to go ahead with the project anyway. It was always a pack of lies.”
Finding a middle ground
Somewhere between the activist’s accusations and the officials' promises there must be some solid middle ground. Maybe that is at
Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism
, where we found Professor Adam Blake.
“It looks like on balance that there’s a big benefit to hosting the Olympics. There are uncertainties. And there are things we don’t know about even now," Blake stated. "There are negatives, as part of it. But there’s a huge amount of money coming into the UK, and that really drives a huge amount of benefits.”
But the professor acknowledges that the biggest potential benefits lie in the future, and therefore carry the greatest uncertainty. "Will London be seen in 10 years’ time with a big Olympic halo effect? Blake asked. "That’s really a potential really big number that outweighs everything that’s going to happen in two weeks in July and August.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25